


As your friend

by Schangia



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: (i really do feel guilty since i'm such an avid xs shipper), Canon Compliant, Gen, KHRrarePairWeek2020, M/M, Rare Pairings, Scars, back to their teenage days, sometimes squalo forgets that he's still a student, this ship is my guilty pleasure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24860227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schangia/pseuds/Schangia
Summary: Dino visits Squalo for the first time since his victory against Tyr - and since he had cut off his own hand.KHR! Rarepair Week, Sky Day, prompt: scars
Relationships: Dino & Superbi Squalo, Dino/Superbi Squalo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23
Collections: KHR Rare Pair Week 2020





	As your friend

**Author's Note:**

> I've never been anything but a Xanxus/Squalo shipper, but Squalo just goes so well with so many other characters. Bless KHR! Rarepair Week for making this possible haha

Dino's eyes darted around the room, discomfort and tension clearly written in the creased lines on his forehead, as he tried to process what Squalo had just told him in much greater detail than he had initially expected from him. He was currently seated on the floor of Squalo's door room, legs crossed and heart beating rapidly against his chest, after demanding his way inside. That had been Dino's plan at least, but when he had knocked on the door, Squalo had let him in without complaining.

It was odd, to say the least. Not just the lack of shouting and insults so far, but the whole situation in general. Dino hadn't been to Squalo's room often but even he could tell that the curtains drawn close to prevent the sun from chasing away the dark shadows on the wall seemed out of place. There was a small sliver of bright light dancing over the ground. For the first few minutes, Dino had found it quite amusing to watch Squalo shying away from the light as if it would burn him; by now he was just concerned at his friend's behaviour.

The air was stifling, prompting Dino to swallow every other second. He had lost track of time a while ago, only remembering that it was early afternoon already when he stopped by to check how Squalo was doing. He hadn't been to class the past few days, so Dino had confronted Xanxus in a rather desperate attempt to figure out what had happened. The response (“Don't care, I think he cut off his hand or something”) had frightened him more than it had answered most of his questions.

And Dino cared. He cared a lot about his loud, irresponsible friend.

Which was one of the reasons he hadn't yet wrapped his head around Squalo's story.

“Please talk me through this again, Squalo,” Dino asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and ignoring Squalo's sigh of frustration.

“I cut off my own hand so I could come closer to Tyr's fighting style.” 

Dino shook his head in disbelief and muttered, “No matter how many times I hear it, it still doesn't make sense to me.”

“Because you're an idiot.” 

There was something particularly degrading about being called an idiot by someone who had cut off his own hand, but Dino chose not to say that out loud. Instead, he tried to get a more substantial answer out of his friend.

“I just don't get why you would do that.” He could already see Squalo roll his eyes, so he quickly added, “I mean, why were you so hell-bent on imitating Tyr when you're already this strong?”

It was a terrible choice of words but it was too late to take them back. And, if he was completely honest, it was the exact way he thought about it. Even if Squalo was upset at his opinion, Dino had decided long ago that he would voice it anyway. It was one of the great things about being friends with Squalo; you could be straight-forward with him, but even if he screamed at you, he always accepted your opinion.

Or it should've been like that. The silence that fell between them surprised Dino more than the fact that Squalo was missing a hand now. When Squalo finally gave him an answer, Dino could barely hear him. While his voice was nothing more than a whisper, every word made Dino regret his previous statement.

“I'm not trying to imitate him. I have to get stronger than him if I want to be of use to anyone.”

Squalo was undoubtedly talking about Xanxus, but Dino didn't react to that. He didn't want to talk about Xanxus, not with the way he always had to fight for Squalo's time and attention while Xanxus was given everything he wanted and still chose not to give a damn.

Willing himself to ignore the searing feeling in his chest, Dino mulled over some ideas. This was uncharted territory for him, and he was painfully aware that this was the worst possible time to test the water carelessly. Any other day he could've dealt with upsetting Squalo and having his ears ring for several hours, but this was different. He couldn't allow himself to fail now, not when so much that was still unspoken between them was at stake.

When the silence became loud enough it threatened to deafen him, Dino finally spoke up, voice rough from being quiet for so long.

“Can I see?”

Squalo looked at him hard. “See what?”

“Your scar.”

It was the first time he had ever seen Squalo hesitate like this. Dino didn't like it; it felt terribly unfamiliar. Squalo was supposed to be loud and brash and courageous. He was supposed to be all the things Dino was not.

“It's alright if you don't want to show me,” Dino said after a while, his desire not to upset his friend greater than his curiosity. He hadn't meant it as a challenge, but Squalo seemed to have taken it as one. He huffed, growled even, before unwrapping his wound and holding out his left arm for him to see.

Dino felt his chest tighten at how Squalo looked away, almost as if he was embarrassed. Then he took a deep breath, braced himself, and looked at the still not completely healed wound. Squalo probably shouldn't have removed the bandages, Dino thought, but there was nothing they could do about that now. He was sure Squalo didn't mind either way.

Trying to comprehend Squalo's thought process was impossible to him, so Dino could only imagine what had been going through his friend's mind after he had won against Tyr and decided to cut off his hand. While Dino was sure that he would never be able to fully understand Squalo, he wasn't particularly worried about that. They didn't need to see eye to eye as long as they were willing to support each other; that's what he hoped at least.

After taking a good look at the wound that would surely leave a rather ugly scar, Dino tore his eyes away from Squalo's missing hand and looked into his face instead. There were a million questions on his mind, so many things he knew Squalo hadn't yet thought about, but he decided to start with the simplest one.

“So how do you plan on handling your everyday life?”

“What do you mean?” Squalo asked with a mixture of surprise and annoyance.

Dino was dumbfounded. “Aren't you left-handed?”

“So what?”

Ignoring the growing irritation in Squalo's voice, Dino realised that his friend hadn't given any thought at all to most aspects of his life that came after defeating the reigning Sword Emperor, with his educational obligations leading the way. It was hard to not sound like a pesky overachiever, but Dino tried his best.

“How are you going to finish the essay that's due next week if the pages look like they were written by a three-year-old?”

Squalo fell silent, his face becoming pale as realisation dawned on him that he was still a student and had to earn his degree regardless of how many swordsmen he won against. Dino felt a weird amusement at the emotions crossing Squalo's face, dread and exasperation and resignation taking turns before he finally groaned loudly.

“What the hell do assassins need to write essays for anyway?!”

Dino didn't bother holding back his snicker. When Squalo looked at him indignantly, Dino cleared his throat and smiled at him instead.

“I can help you, don't worry.”

“I'm not worrying,” Squalo retaliated, his voice back to the volume Dino was used to. Then he paused, looking away again and trying to hide how his cheeks flushed before mumbling a quiet “Thanks.”

Dino's smile widened and his heartbeat quickened, overjoyed at the prospect of helping Squalo adapt to his new circumstances of life. It was something only he could do (because Xanxus would never bother to) and he was excited for every minute of it.


End file.
